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Writing Articles
Why Write Articles? Probably your first question if you aren't sure about the purpose of this wiki. Bookwyrm Wiki is meant to be a place for writers and book lovers to meet and have fun, and articles are the method used to ensure that the stories that draw us together are accessible to everyone. Writing an article about your favorite book, author, or series allows the rest of the community a real glimpse into why you liked that story. A well written article in a collection where only those stories that were truly loved are added is a great way for people to find more stories to love, even in genres that they would never have considered before. The tertiary format of articles on Bookwyrm wiki is designed so that the reader's first interaction with an article whets their appetite for the rest of the book. By joining the wiki and helping to build our collection, you give other book lovers a chance to find new favorites, and you give yourself a chance to expand your own reading horizons. The Article At A Glance One of the most basic things to consider is the page format. Each completed article page should have these basic components. :The data in the Book Template (isbn, author, publication date, cover, publisher, etc.) :A short set of paragraphs that give the basic plot and a hook into the story without giving away the ending. :A smaller-sized (500 characters and below) summary at the top that can be used in newspaper articles or main page showcases. :A complete synopsis of the story, below the other two (if the other two exist, this should have a collapsable script put on it). This should always have a spoiler alert on it. :Link to a reviews page. How exactly those components come together is going to be up to the article's writer and consequent people who work on it. So long as the basic structure is there or can be added, you're good to go. How to Write Articles You have above the format that is the hoped end product of the articles on Bookwyrm Wiki. "But", you may ask, "how on earth do I get started?" Good question, and one that most of us have asked at some point or another. A completely blank page can be more than a little intimidating, especially when you love a story but the the story is so complex that you aren't quite sure where to start, or it's been a while since you read it last. First off, start with the basics. *Author's name, first and last *Publisher *Series (if any) and where it falls in the series if it does belong to one. All that goes into the info box, but if you do not feel up to inputting it yourself, just put it at the top of your page. Voilà, some text to build off of. Next, try running through the story in your mind: who are the primary characters, who's the enemy here? What is the main drama and the main conflict? Is there anything important that should be explained about the history of the story-world? If having all those details in your head lets you go through and write up the whole article, great. If not, lay those out on the page and see where you can build off of them. Now, think about what things drew you to this story: was it the characters, the world itself, the story, how it was told, etc. That will be something you want to emphasize in writing the article: your enthusiasm will come through in your writing. At this point, if you still don't quite know how to begin, you might want to find an amazon or wikipedia article or review to jog pieces of the story loose in your mind. If you resort to that step, remember to come back and insert pieces of why you liked it in what you write. Note: You do NOT have to finish a page the same day you start it. If you can't finish it, save what you have in the page (if there's enough sense to it that another wikian can work off of it), and if not, move it to a personal sandbox. We don't want your hard work destroyed because someone else can't understand your notes. Key Elements of an Article Good Practices The one thing that should be stressed in writing an article is doing research. This can be finding other site's summaries, such as wikipedia and amazon, and meshing what they say into a unique whole for Bookwyrm. A book cannot be labeled as "finished" until it has been okayed by someone who has actually read the book, though, so if you really want an article to be finished, find the book and read it to be sure everything is correct. Look up character's names if you don't remember them! There is nothing more annoying that having the enemy's name on the tip of your tongue and not being able to come up with them; the odds of you remembering to come back and add that detail when you remember are not high, so try and get it done while you can. Keep a fairly neutral point of view in the articles themselves: this means that you want to avoid the first person completely, and restrict use of the second person (aka, no saying I, me, or my; keep you, your, yours to a minimum). It is appropriate to use the second person in the shorter version of the article, to attempt to draw someone into the book: this is a common practice among those who write the book cover summaries for the actual book, so it is acceptable on this wiki. That said, do not over use it, and avoid it in the full length synopysis. Articles should be in english, though key phrases in the language of the story are acceptable if they are translated. Please, if you do decide to add those sort of quotes, be sure you reference them properly! Watch your spelling and grammar as best you can. No one is going to be infaliable, and we here at Bookwyrm are very familiar with the typo. When you finish writing your article, go back over it carefully to be sure that none of your typos make the whole sentence confusing. Save often! All of you students out there who have lost papers understand this concept, though you may not always put it into practice. However you do it, if you want to use the copy function of your computer, a seperate word document, or by publishing repeatedly with a note in the edit summary to let others know you're not done yet, make sure that all your work doesn't go down the drain when your internet decides to have a spaz attack. Having to rewrite an entire page is not fun, and there are times when it is wikia that has the problem, so don't believe that your normally stable internet guarrantees you no lost pages. Don't. Please don't. *One of the more important "don't"s at Bookwyrm is Don't Plagiarise. Plagiarism is theft, a horrendous habit, and a federal crime. Always check over your work to be sure you have avoided copying from any other source without appropriate citations. *Please don't put your personal opinions about the book into an article. We get that you like it by the fact you chose to write it. If you feel that further expression, either positive or negative is required, write a review! Negative reviews will not be deleted from the appropriate review page any more than positive reviews. We want you to be a participating member of the community, so please understand and respect that there are appropriate places for your opinions, and that articles are not it.